Coherent destruction of tunneling

Abstract

The phenomenon of tunneling is investigated for a symmetric double-well potential perturbed by a monochromatic driving force. The analysis is based on a numerical treatment of the quantum map that propagates the system over one period of the external force, and of the spectrum of its eigenphases (quasienergies). The variety in the quasienergy spectrum, such as exact and avoided crossings, leads to novel forms of coherent tunneling. In particular, for specific parameter values of the driving force, we find almost complete localization of the wave packet in one of the wells.